The Pisces by Melissa Broder

Synopsis:

 

Lucy has been writing her dissertation about Sappho for thirteen years when she and Jamie break up. After she hits rock bottom in Phoenix, her Los Angeles-based sister insists Lucy housesit for the summer—her only tasks caring for a beloved diabetic dog and trying to learn to care for herself. Annika’s home is a gorgeous glass cube atop Venice Beach, but Lucy can find no peace from her misery and anxiety—not in her love addiction group therapy meetings, not in frequent Tinder meetups, not in Dominic the foxhound’s easy affection, not in ruminating on the ancient Greeks. Yet everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer one night while sitting alone on the beach rocks.

Whip-smart, neurotically funny, sexy, and above all, fearless, The Pisces is built on a premise both sirenic and incredibly real—what happens when you think love will save you but are afraid it might also kill you.

Rating: 🌟

 

Let's get something straight right away: normally books like this aren't my thing. I've been trying to read more widely and outside of my comfort zone as of late, but fantasy is still my main jam. It's because of this that I was willing to give The Pisces a shot - it's not what I reach for in terms of genre, but balanced by The Shape of Water vibes that I thought I would enjoy it.

I didn't.

Everything about this book just made me feel gross. The main character, the side characters, even the plot itself made me feel uncomfortable and repulsed. By the time I realized the entire novel was going to be like this, it was too late to turn back; I was halfway through, and I might as well finish to count it towards my reading goal.

I can see why this would be compared to The Shape of Water - both feature a woman that engages in a romantic and sexual relationship with a non-human sea creature. But The Shape of Water is whimsical, funny, diverse, and, most of all, aware of how it fits into conversations about fantasy, race, and sexuality. The Pisces is merman erotica that spends the entire novel justifying animal abuse, pedophilia, and the harmful decisions of its pathetic main character simply because she's a "broken" woman. I say "broken" because I'm still not sure, exactly, what makes her "broken," much less what could possibly justify all the problematic shit she does.

The main character, Lucy, is intensely unlikable. She's a 38-year-old grown-ass woman, and she's still mooching off of her university's grant money for the thesis she's been writing for 9 years. As an undergrad student whose high tuition puts the fear of god in her, her abuse of university funds is deeply offensive to me. Not to mention, Lucy's entire purpose of being graciously invited to live in her half-sister's million dollar house instead of her shithole apartment is to watch her sister's dog, Dominic. Dominic has diabetes, so he needs to be given medication. But instead of taking care of her sister's sick dog, LIKE SHE'S BEING PAID TO DO, Lucy spends the majority of the novel trying to satisfy her libido by having sex with random men who couldn't give two craps about her.

That's right, folks. We get to spend the entire 270 pages watching Lucy's animal abuse unfold. She forgets to walk him, feed him, give him the medication that helps keep him alive. She starts giving him daily tranquilizer pills - overdosing him on the first try and then continuing to up the dosage as he builds resistance to it - so he doesn't bother her. SO HE DOESN'T BOTHER HER. We watch him waste away to nothing while Lucy fucks her merman lover on her sister's white couch during her period, ruining the couch by staining it with her menstrual blood. Sexy, am I right?

And Lucy's therapy group? Don't even get me started. I don't know exactly the policies surrounding therapy groups, but when a 40-year-old woman admits to wanting to have sex with her son's 16-year-old friend, believing that he is attracted to her, nothing is done. Nothing happens. No one says anything. No one calls her out on her deeply, deeply disgusting thoughts. In fact, the other women feel sympathy for her. What the fuck. What the actual fuck.

This book is an absolute garbage fire. A problematic, disgusting dumpster fire. Don't expect to find The Shape of Water here. Go watch the movie. Spend your afternoon elsewhere.